CHANTECLER
[_Going toward_ PATOU'S _kennel._] Madam, come forth!

THE PHEASANT-HEN
[_Appearing at the threshold of the kennel._] Well?--A rebellious,
self-freed slave I am--even as that dog was saying! But of great
lineage, and proud as I am free--A pheasant of the woods!

THE BLACKBIRD
Whew! We hate ourself, don't we!

THE PHEASANT-HEN
In the forest where I live there comes a-poaching--

CHANTECLER
That madman who would have given to vile lead a jewel for setting!

THE PHEASANT-HEN
Beneath foliage--not so thick but a sunbeam may glide in!--I make my
home. I am descended, however, from elsewhere. From whence? From Persia?
China? None can tell! But of one thing we may be certain: that I was
meant to shimmer in the blue among the fragrant gum-trees of the East,
and not to be chased through brambles by a hound!--Am I the ancient
Phoenix? or the sacred Chinese hen? Whence was I brought to this land?
And how brought? And by whom? History is not explicit on the point, and
leaves us a splendid choice. Wherefore I choose to have been born in
Colchis, from whence I came on Jason's fist. I am all gold. Perhaps I
was the Fleece!